December 2, 2016

Lujan Grisham to lead Congressional Hispanic Caucus

Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham will lead a group in Congress representing Hispanic members of the chamber.

The Hispanic members of the incoming Congress elected Lujan Grisham as chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Congress.

The Congressional Hispanic Congress is a non-partisan group made up of members of Congress which says it “advocates for issues important to Latinos via the legislative process in Congress.”

“I want to thank my colleagues for entrusting me with the great responsibility of leading the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the 115th Congress,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement Thursday. “As the next Chairwoman, I intend to continue building on the many accomplishments we have achieved this Congress and ensure that the Caucus is leading the fight to support Hispanic communities and protect families across the country.”

The first vice chair will be Joaquin Castro of Texas, the second vice chair will be Ruben Gallego of Arizona and the caucus whip will be Pete Aguilar of California. All members of leadership are Democrats.

Lujan Grisham previously was the first vice chair. The first vice chair is typically elevated to the chair.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico was vice chair before Lujan Grisham, but he became the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee instead of moving up to leadership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Luján will chair the DCCC for a second election cycle this year.

The caucus represents 31 members, which Lujan Grisham said is a record-breaking total. Previously, the caucus represented 26 members.

Related

Comments

More About

Inflammatory words over immigration led to a heated back-and-forth this week between a New Mexico Congresswoman and an Arizona Congressman. It began after Democratic New Mexico U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham brought Dalia Medina, a woman who immigrated to the U.S. with her parents from Mexico as a child, as her guest to the State of the Union last week.

The Libertarian Party of New Mexico filed paperwork to name former governor Gary Johnson as its nominee for U.S. Senate. The Secretary of State updated the listing of candidates to include Johnson Tuesday morning after the party filed at 9:30 on Monday, the office said.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus won’t stop its criticism of Donald Trump’s immigration policies. That’s the word from Michelle Lujan Grisham, the New Mexico lawmaker who heads the caucus, which is made up of Hispanic members of Congress from around the country.

School funding lawsuits are usually long legal slogs, but New Mexico’s timeline could be shortened by years. Late this morning, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham was the first candidate for governor to say she would not continue a legal battle over whether the state is meeting its financial obligations to adequately educate children.

MCALLEN — Every afternoon, dozens of immigrant families released by the U.S. government walk three blocks from the Greyhound bus station in this South Texas border city to a migrant shelter run by Catholic Charities.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Groups advocating for the rights of children and families detained at the southern border are using the Freedom of Information Act to find out exactly where the Trump administration plans to build migrant detention centers on two military bases in the Southwest.

Matthew Reichbach is the editor of the NM Political Report. The former founder and editor of the NM Telegram, Matthew was also a co-founder of New Mexico FBIHOP with his brother and one of the original hires at the groundbreaking website the New Mexico Independent. Matthew has covered events such as the Democratic National Convention and Netroots Nation and formerly published, “The Morning Word,” a daily political news summary for NM Telegram and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Matthew has appeared as a panelist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ New Mexico Chapter’s panel on covering New Mexico politics and the legislature.
A native New Mexican from Rio Rancho, Matthew’s family has been in New Mexico since the 1600s.